1. Field of the Inventions
The present application is directed to connectors that can be used for various kinds of structures, including rotatable shafts, such as components for connecting shafts together and for mounting other devices to the shafts.
2. Background
Some known sun tracking photovoltaic solar power systems, such as utility-scale, photovoltaic installations, are designed to pivot a large number of solar modules so as to track the movement of the sun using the fewest possible number of driver motors. For example, some known systems include parallel rows of photovoltaic modules supported on torque tubes. The torque tubes can comprise a number of long shafts connected together in an end to end fashion. The torque tubes are supported in an orientation parallel to each other such that their pivot axes are parallel. These shafts are sufficiently long that they must be supported by many vertical columns, known as “piles”.
In some systems, solar energy collection devices, such as photovoltaic modules, are mounted to the shafts with support mounts. In some designs, the mounts are made to be as small as possible, while allowing for clearance for certain other components.